Time for NFL to take concussion/CTE lead

In this Jan. 10, 2010, file photo, Patriots linebacker Junior Seau warms up on the field before an NFL wild-card playoff game in Foxborough, Mass. Seau is among the players found to have CTE in their brains. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Now’s the perfect time for the NFL to finally get ahead of the concussion story.

To get on, and stay on, the right side of history.

How best to do it?

First, by boldly taking the lead among the globe’s top pro sports leagues in embracing and owning — not dismissing or avoiding — medical advancements and discoveries in the detection of degenerative brain diseases found posthumously in their former athletes.

Then, face the consequences. Financial or otherwise.

Bottom line, stop behaving like the bad guys and become the good guys.

On Monday, Jeff Miller became the first senior NFL executive to acknowledge publicly the overwhelming scientific evidence that links football to the degenerative brain disease CTE.

Miller, the NFL’s senior VP of health and safety policy, admitted as much during a congressional roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C.

Asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky whether he believes there’s a link between football and such degenerative brain disorders, Miller answered: “Well certainly, Dr. (Ann) McKee’s research shows that a number of retired NFL players are diagnosed with CTE, so the answer to that question is certainly yes.

“I think the broader point, and the one that your question gets to, is what that necessarily means, and where do we go from here with that information?”

Where indeed.

McKee is the Boston University neuropathologist who has discovered CTE in the brains of 176 deceased people, including 90 of 94 ex-NFLers, 45 of 55 former college players and 26 out of 65 one-time high school football players.

Before Miller spoke, McKee provided convincing evidence to the roundtable as to the link’s existence, adding that eventually “we are going to be surprised at how common” CTE is in former football players.

Since early last decade, the NFL had denied any such link existed, as now famously presented in Concussion, the feature film starring Will Smith. In recent years the league had, at times, modified that position somewhat, to a non-denial denial of sorts.

Equally important as Monday’s remarks by Miller was that, on Tuesday, the league did not attempt to deny, dilute or deflect those remarks.

“The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday accurately reflect the view of the NFL,” spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email to Postmedia and other media outlets.

This is historic. They’re owning this.

Even if “it’s about damn time,” as Chris Nowinski — one of pro sports leagues’ harshest critics over their poor handling of CTE discoveries and head-safety issues in general — told Postmedia late Monday evening.

Nowinski also advocates for better ways to save child, teen and pro athletes alike from the damaging effects of repeat concussions. Through the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which Nowinski founded, he has helped to supply McKee with the brains of deceased former athletes to study.

“The evidence has been this strong for years,” Nowinski said. “The NFL finally spoke the truth.”

Presumably, we’ll hear no more denials from that league or others, such as the NHL.

No more junk science. No more hair-splitting. No more unnecessarily long, qualified answers to simple yes-or-no questions. No more “we’ll have to see where the research takes us” punts.

Why now, NFL? Perhaps it’s just that continually playing from behind wears on anyone, even the executives who oversee the NFL.

Whatever the reason, there really was nothing left for the league to do, or say, other than the right thing.

The link exists.

The NFL views itself as North America’s, if not the world’s, pre-eminent pro sports league. With its continual denials about football’s links to CTE, the league was increasingly painting itself as the cold-hearted antagonists of this story.

With this week’s about-face, the opportunity -- believe it or not -- is there for the league to shed that image for good. To become protagonists, even. The good guys.

If it costs the league another billion dollars in retro-litigation to do so, it can afford it. “Protecting the shield” is an oft-used term within league circles about placing the NFL, and the game, above all. The league would be doing exactly that by taking a lead among world sports bodies.

As it happens, the league’s annual four-day meeting begins this coming Sunday at a South Florida resort. Commissioner Roger Goodell always begins Monday morning’s full-membership portion by updating owners, executives, GMs and head coaches on the state of the league and the most important new league business.

Time for NFL to take concussion/CTE lead

Now’s the perfect time for the NFL to finally get ahead of the concussion story.

To get on, and stay on, the right side of history.

How best to do it?

First, by boldly taking the lead among the globe’s top pro sports leagues in embracing and owning — not dismissing or avoiding — medical advancements and discoveries in the detection of degenerative brain diseases found posthumously in their former athletes.

Then, face the consequences. Financial or otherwise.

Bottom line, stop behaving like the bad guys and become the good guys.

On Monday, Jeff Miller became the first senior NFL executive to acknowledge publicly the overwhelming scientific evidence that links football to the degenerative brain disease CTE.

Miller, the NFL’s senior VP of health and safety policy, admitted as much during a congressional roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C.